Poor Jack

Another birthday cake. This time it is for my son, Douglas, who turns 17 today. He is a huge fan of Jack Skellington. He is the main character in the Nightmare Before Christmas movie, for anyone who does not recognize the name. I realize this is not very festive for a birthday cake, looks more like a Halloween cake, but it a surprise for Doug and he loves Jack, so there you have it.



The piping gel was the store bought kind that come in the little tube. Since I needed black I decided to use store-bought and not make my own. I have a fear of making black icing. What can I say?!? You need a lot of coloring or else you just get a dark gray. Something about adding that much black food coloring to my icing just seems unnatural and...well, toxic. So, the little tube made the gel come out too thick and my lines are not as thin as I would have liked. Poor Jack has a glob for a hand and his smile is not quite right. Next time I will make my own so I can use a tiny tip for thinner lines. Live and learn. Oh, and if you start with a chocolate icing and add black to that you won't need as much food coloring. Thank you to my Wilton instructor for that great tip. :)



To get the image on my cake, I printed out a drawing I found online. I then traced the picture onto a piece of parchment paper with a pencil. Place the parchment on your cake to make sure the image will fit before you proceed to the next step. Take parchment off of cake and lay it down so that the pencil side is face down. Using clear piping gel in a parchment bag, trace the pencil lines you have drawn. (I use the Wilton piping gel that comes in the small tubs) Now, take the piping gel side of the parchment and place it on the cake. Gently run a small paint brush or your finger along the lines you traced to get the gel to stick to the cake. Peel paper off of cake and use whatever color icing to trace and fill in your image. Next time I will take pictures for a better tutorial, but you get the general idea.

I will definitely be doing another Jack cake around Halloween. He is just too awesome! Thank you Tim Burton!